福袋 ( = fukubukuro) + 得と損 ( = toku to son)

= Hey Maggie, wouldn’t it be a great deal if I were in your “lucky bag”?

Hi everyone! Did you have nice winter holidays?

We will start with something cultural today.

In Japan many stores and restaurants are closed on January 1st. (Most companies are closed on January 1st, 2nd and third as well.) But big stores and department stores open on January 2nd or 3rd for a New Year’s sale.

People rush to the department stores to buy the 福袋 = fukubukuro of their favorite stores.

福袋 = fukubukuro

福 = fuku = luck, fortune

袋 = fukuro/bukuro = a bag

The literal meaning is “lucky bag”

So the stores stuff various random contents in a bag and sell them as 福袋 ( = fukubukuro) on January 1st ~ 3rd (→until they are sold out. ) They should contains articles worth much more than the price of the bag.

The popular one will be sold out immediately and people stand in line from early in the morning in order to get the limited number of lucky bags.

The bags are sealed so you can’t peek inside but you are supposed to get much more than you paid for.

But recently many stores have started showing the contents of the bag so that customers don’t waste money for something they don’t need.

I would love to see inside the bags but at the same time, it’s more fun to open the bag in you don’t know what’s inside.

If you go to the store, you will see,

Ex. 福袋 1万円（３万円相当の商品が入っています。）

= Fukubukuro ichimanen (sanman en soutou no shouhin ga haitte imasu.)

=Lucky bag 10,000 yen (There is 30,000 yen worth of goods inside.)

I got one designer brand “lucky bag “this year. It cost 20,000 yen and according to the shop clerk, it is worth 100,000 yen. Really???

The jeans has a ¥44,000 price tag. (But who would pay ¥44,000 for a pair of jeans???)

The pink camisole has ¥35,000 price tag…So as they said it actually had ¥100,000 value clothes in it.

But somehow I felt like I had lost money…

It is simply because I couldn’t pick the color, design and exact size and I ended up buying something I don’t even need so it IS a gamble after all…

I think it is a great idea for both the stores and the customers. Customers can get stuff much cheaper than usual and stores can get rid of winter items before spring comes and/or attract more customers by selling those 福袋 ( = fukubukuro ) = lucky bags.

Every year, we see news clips that says some department sell lavish福袋 ( = fukubukuro). Some extreme one costs more than 1 million yen up to 27 million yen. What’s in it? It depends on a year but for example a car, luxurious cruise, air tickets, gold, jewelry, fur coat, etc.

:ddd: From the picture above :

Cookie is in a 福袋 ( = fukubukuro). He says,

「ねえ、マギー、僕が入っていたら超お得じゃない？」

= Nee Maggie, boku ga haitte itara chou otoku janai?

= Hey Maggie, wouldn’t it be a great deal if I were in your “lucky bag”?